AFPOne of the few private companies in Cuba, with sky-high prices
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 21:48
Soehayla Halouchi
editor online
Soehayla Halouchi
editor online
The Cuban peso has fallen in value by 50 percent in one year. This has reached an unprecedented low point: 230 pesos are only worth one dollar on the black market. Goods have been scarce for a long time and a hyperinflation of 45 percent makes it almost impossible for residents to buy food.
The state does not recognize these figures and classifies them as “informal and illegal rate calculations”. Cuban economists and critics see the structural economic crisis as a result of the country’s communist policies, which make it difficult to import products. The Cuban government says it has to do with sanctions from the United States and the consequences of the corona pandemic. The state itself also calculates with a higher exchange rate.
Cuba has been communist for decades. In the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the guerrilla army led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrew the dictator. Since then, the US has imposed a trade embargo and all diplomatic ties between the two countries have been severed.
Under President Obama’s administration, steps were taken to lift the trade embargo, but President Trump reversed those measures.
Until the 1990s, the Soviet Union was Cuba’s main ally, and Russia and Cuba have had close ties since the Cold War. For example, Cuba receives oil and financial support from Russia and food aid was sent during the pandemic.
Due to all the problems in the country, the government has relaxed some rules. This happened, for example, in 2022, when the government announced that foreign investment in the retail sector will be allowed.
But those changes are not fast enough and due to the low value of the peso, most Cubans do not earn more than 5,000 pesos a month. Converted to the black market exchange rate, that’s only $20. Shortages of food, medicine and other basic necessities cause long queues, making it difficult for many Cubans to get food.
Nina Jurna, Correspondent Latijns-Amerika:
“Many Cubans are burdened by the crisis. As a result, they are trying to leave the island, there is a real exodus going on. The island is at a low point and comparisons are increasingly being made with the 1990s, when the so-called Special Period began and Cuba ended up in a severe economic crisis, when many Cubans made the perilous crossing with small boats to the US.
Many foreign tourists in Cuba find themselves in a parallel reality: in the tropical and chic beach resorts, they probably notice little of the crisis. But beyond, in the cities and rural areas where ordinary Cubans live, the crisis is visible. For the Cubans, the reality mainly consists of trying to survive every day.”
Libia Hernandez, a Cuban-Dutch conductor, has noticed the consequences of the crisis in the projects she carries out on the Caribbean island. “People are mainly concerned with survival, there are no supermarkets as we know them here. When you arrive at the airport, it is already a miracle that you can get a bottle of water,” says Hernandez to NOS.
A few weeks ago, when the conductor was in Cuba, there were already major shortages: “Friends of mine get up at five in the morning to queue for food, drink and petrol. When you hear that there is something for sale , you go there right away.”
Tourists
A Dutch tourist also recognized these problems on his holiday in Cuba a few weeks ago. “I knew the situation in the country, but I did not expect it to be so bad with food shortages. There is no longer any decent food for both residents and tourists. Only rice and beans,” he says to NOS.
Travel organizations warn tourists to bring food when visiting the country, the Dutch tourist continues: “I brought fifteen tubes of toothpaste, and where I could, I distributed them. It is of course a drop in the ocean, but stores are just empty. You can’t touch anything anymore.”
Diaspora
According to Hernandez, the Cuban diaspora in the US, among others, but also in the Netherlands, is one of the reasons that Cubans can still keep their heads above water. “The country is partly maintained by relatives abroad who send everything. They have been doing that since 1989. The situation is so bad that you create a society of people who always need help.”
Many Cubans are also not happy about cooperation with the Russians, says Hernandez: “I had hoped for help from another country, but now that the Russians are back, I don’t know what the future will bring.”
2023-08-02 19:48:59
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